RESEARCH

Jamie Luria, a second-year dental student, received a second place Junior Hatton Award at this spring's AADR meeting for his research. With him is his mentor, Dr. Paul Krebsbach.

Second-year dental student Jamie Luria received a second place Junior Hatton Award during the AADR's annual meeting.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Krebsbach, Luria is using bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) to reconstruct craniomaxillofacial and mandibular defects due to ablative cancer surgery.

These proteins have powerful bone-forming activity and have led to dramatic improvements in treating patients with orthopedic problems.

In addition, Luria said BMP use in oral cancer defects is currently contraindicated due to uncertainties about whether the proteins have adverse biologic effects on human oral squamous cell carcinoma or contribute to tumorigenesis.

Luria's research is involved in testing the hypothesis that BMPs do not produce adverse biologic effects on oral squamous cell carcinoma or enhance the growth of residual tumor cells.

He also received an AADR Student Fellowship Award to fund an additional year of research on the impact BMP exposure has on oral cancer's ability to spread from its primary site of development.